Ubuntu 12.04 Linux Kernel Exploit Fixed by Canonical

Users must update the operating system to the latest version of Linux kernel

Ubuntu 12.04 LTS desktop

A security vulnerability that was discovered in the Linux kernel affecting the Ubuntu 12.04 LTS (Precise Pangolin) operating system, was announced by Canonical.

This is the kernel vulnerability found in the Linux kernel packages: CVE-2012-3520. The system could be made to perform privileged actions as an administrator. A flaw was found in the credentials of netlink messages.

An unprivileged local attacker could have exploited this by getting a netlink based service that relies on netlink credentials, to perform privileged actions.

The security flaws can be fixed if you upgrade your system(s) to the linux-image-3.2.0-32 (3.2.0-32.51).

Don't forget to reboot your computer after the upgrade!

ATTENTION:Due to an unavoidable ABI change, the kernel packages have a new version number, which will force you to reinstall and recompile all third-party kernel modules you might have installed. Moreover, if you use the linux-restricted-modules package, you have to update it as well to get modules that work with the new Linux kernel version.